Theoretical study of NaCl clusters

Structure prediction of nanoclusters; a direct or a pre-screened search on the DFT energy landscape?

Atomic structure prediction, using KLMC (Lamarckian evolutionary algorithm search), and properties comparison of (KF)_n, (MgO)_n, (ZnO)_n and (CdSe)_n nanoclusters.

Optimized Geometry of the Cluster Gd2O3 and Proposed Antiferromagnetic Alignment of f-Electron Magnetic Moment

There is currently experimental interest in assemblies of Gd2O3 clusters. This has motivated the present study in which a single such cluster in free space is examined quantitatively by spin-density functional theory, with appropriate relativistic corrections incorporated for Gd. First, the nuclear geometry of the cluster is optimized, and it is found to be such that the two Gd atoms lie in a symmetry axis perpendicular to the isosceles triangle formed by the O atoms. Then, a careful study is made of the magnetic arrangement of the localized f-electron moments on the two Gd atoms. The prediction of the present treatment is that the localized spins are aligned antiferromagnetically. An alternative picture using superexchange ideas leads to the same conclusion.

Table Salt and Other Alkali Metal Chloride Oligomers: Structure, Stability, and Bonding

We have investigated table salt and other alkali metal chloride monomers, ClM, and (distorted) cubic tetramers, (ClM)(4), with M = Li, Na, K, and Rb, using density functional theory (DFT) at the BP86/TZ2P level. Our objectives are to determine how the structure and thermochemistry (e.g., Cl-M bond lengths and strengths, oligomerization energies, etc.) of alkali metal chlorides depend on the metal atom and to understand the emerging trends in terms of quantitative Kohn-Sham molecular orbital (KS-MO) theory. The analyses confirm the high polarity of the Cl-M bond (dipole moment, VDD, and Hirshfeld atomic charges). They also reveal that bond overlap derived stabilization (approximately -26, -20, and -8 kcal/mol), although clearly larger than in the corresponding F-M bonds, contributes relatively little to the (trend in) bond strengths (-105, -90, and -94 kcal/mol) along M = Li, Na, and K. Thus, the Cl-M bonding mechanism resembles more closely that of the even more ionic F-M bond than that of the more covalent C-M or H-M bonds. Tetramerization causes the Cl-M bond to expand, and it reduces its polarity.